Tag: Andrew Percy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on improving (a) business and (b) personal access to broadband.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Government recognises the importance of broadband access throughout the UK for both businesses and individuals. I have regular discussions with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on how the UK can become a world leader in broadband, and on 24 February my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced a joint BIS/DCMS Review into Business Broadband to ensure that businesses are able to access the affordable, high-speed broadband they need.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to encourage the use of faecal calprotectin in primary care to facilitate prompt and appropriate referral of people with suspected inflammation of the bowel.

Jane Ellison

The IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) Registry provides a United Kingdom-wide repository of anonymised IBD adult and paediatric patient data for prospective audit and research purposes. Patients must consent for their data to be added to the registry. The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) has allocated transitional funding this year to incorporate IBD audit data collection into the IBD Registry, providing an enhanced system for data capture and quality improvement that will be available to every hospital in the UK. This will allow the entry of data locally and support service improvement. Initially the focus will be for IBD patients receiving biologic treatments, but the system will address other key aspects of IBD care in the future.

The second step of data collection will be to focus on new patients with IBD to begin to understand the incidence of IBD in the UK. This picture will build up over a number of years and be dependent on the engagement of clinicians.

No specific assessment of the potential effects on healthcare due to the introduction of a registry of patients with IBD in England has been made. However, the data provided through the register can support National Health Service services in areas such as the assessment of local IBD populations as well as in measuring incidence and outcomes with services in other parts of the UK.

Although there is no direct Department funding, HQIP have given £290,000 for a year’s transition funding to join the audit data with the registry.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends faecal calprotectin testing as an option to help doctors distinguish between inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and non-inflammatory bowel diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome.

The NICE IBD Quality Standard states that general practitioners (GP) and GP practices should ensure that testing is offered and clinical commissioning groups should ensure the diagnostic services are in place to support this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the extent of access to biological treatments for people with inflammatory bowel disease.

George Freeman

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended four different biological drugs for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the collective term for Crohn’s disease and colitis, for use after the failure of conventional therapies or in patients for whom such therapies are not appropriate. The National Health Service is legally obliged to fund medicines and treatments recommended by NICE’s technology appraisals.

Although information concerning the exact number of people with IBD who have been treated with biological drugs in each of the last five years is not available, and no specific assessment of access has been made, some data are collected as part of the IBD audit. The IBD audit programme is commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership on behalf of NHS England and Wales (with additional funding from Healthcare Improvement Scotland), as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme, and carried out by the Royal College of Physicians.

The biological therapies part of the IBD audit aims to assess nationally: the efficacy of biological therapies in the treatment of IBD; the safety of biological therapies in the treatment of IBD; and IBD patients’ views on their quality of life at defined intervals throughout their use of biological therapies. The latest round of audit findings, published in September 2015, showed treatment continued to be effective and that patients were receiving treatment with biological therapies at earlier stages of disease. More information can be found at the following link:

www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/ibd-biological-therapy-audit

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce poor nutrition among elderly people (a) in general and (b) in nursing and care homes.

Alistair Burt

Public Health England (PHE) advocates a healthy food provision for all regardless of age, including those who are undernourished. This is a selection of food and drink which meets daily nutrient needs in a healthier more sustainable way.

PHE has published a range of catering guidance and supporting tools offering practical advice to support healthier and more sustainable food provision across a range of settings. This includes a toolkit for serving food to older people (including those in residential settings or community settings where older people may receive support, such as “meals on wheels” and take part in social activity such as lunch clubs).

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, all providers of regulated activities have to register with the CQC and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality, below which care should never fall. Regulation 14 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, requires registered providers to meet nutritional and hydration needs.

This fundamental standard requires that a service user receives suitable and nutritious food and hydration which is adequate to sustain life and good health. Care providers need to take into account the service users preferences or their religious or cultural background. Service users should also receive support to eat and drink if necessary.

The CQC inspects providers to see if they are meeting these fundamental standards and provides clear direction on areas that require improvement. The CQC has a wide range of enforcement powers if a provider fails to meet the fundamental standards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to the number of people in the work-related activity group on people with restrictive medical conditions; and what alternative measures he plans to put in place to assist such people.

Priti Patel

The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in Bill on 20th July and Ministers have considered impacts with regard to all relevant legal obligations when formulating the welfare policies announced in the Bill.

This change includes new funding for additional practical support for claimants with limited capability for work from April 2017, when the removal of the work-related activity component will come into effect, rising from £60m in 2017/18 to £100m a year in 2020/21.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many defibrillators are provided in each building his Department manages.

Jane Ellison

One defibrillator is provided in each of the buildings managed by the Department which includes Blenheim House in Leeds, Premier House in Reading and Skipton House, Richmond House and Wellington House in London.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many defibrillators are provided in each building his Department manages.

Mr Edward Vaizey

There is one defibrillator at the Government Art Collection, Queen’s Yard, 179a Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7PA.

In addition, The Department has offices at 100 Parliament Street,a building shared between several Government departments, and there are 10defibrillators on site.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that freedom of speech in universities is safeguarded; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the reported forced closure of an Israel Society event at King’s College London on his Department’s policies.

Joseph Johnson

The Government strongly opposes any kind of violence or intimidation that curtails free speech in universities and leads to the closure of peaceful meetings.

King’s College London has undertaken its own review of the protests at the Israeli Society event on 19^th January and concluded that a number of individuals “intentionally disrupted the rights of others to exercise freedom of speech within the law”.

Whilst the violent protests were deplorable, KCL has acted to reiterate its commitment to free speech and take disciplinary measures against individuals concerned.

The Prevent duty introduced in September 2015 requires institutions to have robust policies and procedures in place to manage events such as this in order to protect students and staff and safeguard freedom of speech. As the designated monitoring body, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) will be making an assessment of compliance with the requirements of the duty.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills about the effect of bus franchising in the vehicle manufacturing sector.

Andrew Jones

I refer my hon Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole to the answer I gave on 15^th February, to Question UIN 26533.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to improve apprenticeship standards among employers.

Nick Boles

We have taken significant steps to improve the quality of apprenticeships. Apprenticeships now must have substantial training; last at least 12 months; and lead to full competency in an occupation.

We are going further by giving employers the opportunity to design high quality apprenticeships across a range of occupations to meet their skills needs. More than 1300 employers are involved with 205 new apprenticeships standards already published and more than 150 are in development.

The new Institute for Apprenticeships will support improvements in the quality of apprenticeship standards in England. It will be responsible for setting quality criteria for the development of standards and assessment plans, reviewing, approving or rejecting them; and quality assuring some end point assessments.